Now we know what caused Europe's Mars lander to crash

The European Space Agency (ESA) finally has a better idea of what caused its ill-fated Mars lander to crash-land on the Red Planet in October.

It looks like the Schiaparelli lander — part of the joint alien life-hunting ExoMars mission between the ESA and Russia — crashed into the surface of Mars due to a glitch in its navigation system.

The ins and outs of the issue that doomed that lander are complicated, but basically, as Schiaparelli was coming in for touchdown its navigation computer miscalculated its altitude, leading the onboard computer to think that the lander was already safe and on the ground. Read more…